Monochrome World
by Yoru-no-Hate
Summary: Soulmate AU where everyone see in black and white until they see their soulmates for the first time.


Ace was ten years old when he first saw color, very few people had the luck to meet their soulmates at such a young age.

He hadn't known what was happening at that time, why the world was suddenly bright and full of hues. He had looked around in amazement, confused and excited at the same time, even if there was not really much color to see on the Gray Terminal. When he had felt satisfied, he had turned his gaze to the boy he had previously crashed onto. Said boy, whom he would later know as Sabo, had also been looking around as if the world was suddenly new to him too, before he had felt Ace's stare and stared right back at him with wide eyes.

"Do you see it too?" Ace had found himself asking, and the blond had proceeded to explain what was happening to him.

Ace and Sabo had been too young back then to put any romanticism to the term 'soulmate'. But they felt a pull towards each other, and they understood it, and together with Luffy they swore to be brothers, a bond that would never break no matter the hard times they faced in the future.

 _But then Sabo's makeshift ship will sink, and Ace's world will crumble, and he will be one of the very few unlucky people who will see their soulmate die in front of them at the tender age of ten._

* * *

Luffy was seventeen years old when the world had colored around him. He had immediately known what was happening, as it had happened to his brothers so long ago. They had loved to tease him, laughing at him for seeing only in black and white and describing the world as marvelous as they had seen it. Luffy had been so jealous of them, but at last it was his turn now.

He had wanted to look around, to admire the colors his brothers had mentioned so much. More importantly, he had wanted to search for the person that had caused this, because with the commotion of the moment he hadn't been able to make out whom exactly had he been looking at. But this was not the time. He had just punched a Celestial Dragon, the fight was beginning, they still had to save Camie and the Marines would be there at any time.

Because of all of this, he failed to see the smirk that had appeared on Trafalgar Law's face. In fact he didn't notice him at all until he began talking and Robin pointed him out.

 _But later, when they will fight together, Luffy won't be able to see anything that will differentiate the tattooed man from anyone else. And Law won't be able to get Luffy alone to talk before he will be sent far away. They won't see each other again until much tragical times._

* * *

Ace was twenty years old when he had realized his world hadn't lost its color. He had been looking, under his captain's command, for his former crewmate Marshall D. Teach. Ace had been dying to make him pay for killing their mate.

In the middle of his search he had stumbled upon an old man who had asked for his help, seeing as he was a fit young lad, in carrying some things to his late bride's grave. Knowing the pain of losing someone so important to one, Ace hadn't been able to refuse.

He had been drinking with the man at the graveyard when he had decided to ask how long she had been dead. "It had been eight years since I last saw in color" the old man had replied, and frankly the last time Ace had been so confused he had been seeing Sabo for the first time. He asked the man to explain, because he hadn't known, up until now, that one stopped seeing in color when their soulmate died.

Did that mean…? It couldn't be possible. Sabo couldn't actually be… alive?

With a new found hope arising in his chest, Ace swore that when he finished his business with Teach, he would go looking for the blond.

 _But he won't be able to, because he will be captured, then he will be free again, but he will sacrifice himself for his little brother. And crying into Luffy's shoulder, he will use one of his last thoughts to wonder why hadn't Sabo ever come back to them._

* * *

Law was twenty-four years old when his world turned back to grayscale for the first time, even if just for a few seconds. He had never been so scared in all his life, not even when he himself was the one dying.

It had barely been a few hours since the battle at Marineford, and Straw Hat Luffy had been in critical condition. Law's vision kept turning from colorful to black and white and back again, and it was making him dizzy, but he would be damned if he let his soulmate stay dead for more than a few seconds. 'This is not his end' he kept repeating to himself over and over. "Defibrillator!" he shouted again to whoever was there to hear him when his sight turned gray again. He didn't bother trying to identify who brought it over, he didn't care, too busy with what he was doing.

It took some days for Luffy to become totally stable, even with Law's Devil's Fruit powers, but he still couldn't relax. He knew that the fact the raven haired boy was physically recovering didn't mean he wouldn't be a mental wreck when he woke up. It fascinated Law how much he wanted, and at the same time didn't want, to be there for him when that happened. He had never really cared how this soulmate business worked, but he had known it since he first saw Straw Hat-ya, that it was a powerful thing. He wanted to tell him, to see how he would react.

 _But some days later Luffy will wake up, and he will scream and cry and break down, and Law will know it's not the time. Two years later they will meet again, but their alliance, his revenge for Cora-san, will be his priority, and he will even come to forget he wanted to tell anything in the first place._

* * *

Sabo was twenty-two years old when his life discolored completely. He saw that face, that news, in every newspaper. Fire Fist Ace, infamous son of Gol D. Roger, had died. Even if he hadn't recovered his memory on that exact moment, it wouldn't have taken a genius to piece two and two together.

When the Revolutionaries had found him he hadn't remembered anything from his early childhood, but it hadn't taken long for him to discover what seeing in color meant. Everyone had been surprised that a boy of such young age had already found his soulmate, but it didn't matter to him, because he had lost them. He didn't remember how it happened, when, or much less with whom. So it didn't matter.

It didn't matter until the day it did. The day his world painted in gray hues so suddenly it left him feeling breathless, feeling cold. Then he had seen Ace's face, and he hadn't been able to make up the colors but it had made him remember, and it had all came crashing down. He had fell on his knees, and cried and cried, not even minding his crewmate's pitiful looks, or Koala's hushed, trying-to-be comforting, words on his ear.

 _But time will pass, and he will meet Luffy again with a smile on his face. He will eat his brother's (his soulmate's, he will remember himself) Devil's Fruit and he will honor his memory, even if it will never, ever, stop hurting._

* * *

Luffy was nineteen years old when he stopped seeing in color. It was only for a minute, thank God, and he had been in the middle of a battle, so he had barely had time to feel surprised.

It had been more than two years since his life had become colorful, and he had long ago giving up in trying to find his soulmate. There had been too many people in the Auction's house he had been in at that time. Then more important things had come up, and he had thought he had lost his chance already. The thought that it could be a person close to him was so absurd it had never crossed his mind.

Then, just after he had finished knocking down Bellamy, his sight turned black and white. Surprise and anxiety overtook him for a second, and he had come to the battlefield to find Torao dead. As he suddenly revived, coughing blood, color had come back to Luffy, and rage had filled him. He had proceeded to give Mingo what he deserved, and had left explanations for later.

 _But after the battle, when Luffy will ask his ally why he had never told him before, the Surgeon of Death will just shrug it with a smirk, and he won't mind, because he will have come to like Law just as he is. They both will know it won't last long, for them both had gambled with death too many times already, but it won't matter. All that will matter will be that they have each other in the present, and then only time will tell._


End file.
